The Ambassador
by blotsmarose
Summary: Vikki and Gwen are both lost girls - they can't get back to their homes. They are both taken in by the riders, and what happens when they are with them helps them find another home - even if it wasn't what they expected.
1. Chapter 1  Almost Lover

Chapter One – Almost Lover

Disclaimer – I don't own either Merlin or the Inheritance Cycle.

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><p>It was raining. Oh, the irony, thought Merlin, as he made his way to the princes chambers. Raining on the outside, raining on the inside.<p>

Arthur had been an emotional blank page for the last…was it a month? It certainly felt like it. Actually, it felt more like a year, or a year and a half. It could have been millennia, for all Merlin could tell. The stuff with Lancelot and Gwen had taken their toll on Arthur these past few weeks. He was emotionally dead, throwing himself into the work of the kingdom. In Merlin's opinion, a king with an adulterous wife was bad, but a king who was emotionally dead was worse.

The cell where Gwen had been was still exactly the same. It was forbidden for the soldiers or the servants to go in, or clear it up. It was like a shrine to the almost queen, and her what could have been court. An ironic piece of art about how the world had only got worse since the king's fiancé had been locked up for being with another man.

No time to ponder, though, thought Merlin. He headed straight into the king's room – he was already up, and looking at the piles of paper at his desk.

"Morning, Your Highness," said Merlin. "Busy day today?" Merlin no longer organised the king's schedule – it was one more thing for the king to do instead of think about Gwen.

"Merlin…should I clear out the cell?"

"The cell, your highness?" Of course, Merlin knew what cell he was talking about, but he almost didn't want to believe it. The king clearing out the cell was like him admitting that he was moping and that it was time to move on. It was a good sign, but Merlin took it with caution – it could stir up old feelings and sometimes the past should just stay dead.

Merlin wasn't sure what he thought of this – it was like they were starting to take Gwen away.

"Yes. I think that we should – can't keep it empty forever. See to it that it's done. Oh, and can you call in Agrivane?"

Merlin left, not sure of his feelings on the cell being cleared up Nevertheless, he did as he was told. Who knows, he thought. Some good may come of it.

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><p>Eragon was having one of <em>those <em>days. One of the days when Saphira was hunting, so he couldn't talk to her, Ayra had just left, and Nasuada was breathing down his neck about the fact that there were now three elf riders, three urgal riders, three dwarf riders, but only one human rider. And they were supposed to have three as well.

Today was just one of those days.

Mera, an elf rider who was half way through her training, ran up to him. "Eragon-elda! Sir! There's a girl at the door, but she's unconscious. I don't know what to do, but more importantly than that, sir, guess what, sir!"

"What, Mera?" asked Eragon.

"She hasn't touched an egg yet, sir. Ever, sir."

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><p>Vikki felt miserable. She was sitting all by herself, and she could tell all the other girls were judging her – silently, but they were still doing it. She knew they thought of her as below them, just a scholarship girl. Poor, not here because of the money. She was never going to have the latest mobile, the best iPod, the newest laptop, the coolest clothes. It was made even worse by the fact that there was no uniform – people could tell just by looking at her that most of what she wore wasn't the designer clothes that they were used to.<p>

It was Vikki's second week at St Saviours Independent School for Girls, London. It was a fee paying school, but she had got a scholarship. She'd always been smart – it was just who she was. It helped that she had also got a music scholarship which, together with a small bursary, had been able to pay all her school fees. She'd grown up in care – her parents had abandoned her when she was only a baby. She had made it her ultimate goal to get into St Saviours. But now she was here, she regretted it. She had thrown herself into a world where your last name meant more than your last mark in a test, and she was slowly coming to the realisation that this was it. She could do nothing except accept the inevitable – she was stuck in a school where she didn't fit in, with a scholarship she felt like she didn't deserve, and she had lost what she had been working for. It just wasn't what she thought it was.

She left the lunch hall, putting her tray away and walking up to her classroom. It was still half an hour till lessons – she'd probably read to pass the time. Or do homework.

She took a left turn – not the way to her classroom – unconsciously, and then another. She was just walking, and somehow, in this massive school, she'd managed to get lost for what felt like the millionth time. Great.

It was all castle like, with great walls and other…castlely type things. But this part of the school looked different – still castle-like, but more like she'd imagine the castle looked like when it was knew. The stone walls looked as if they had seen no aging, nor suffered the test of time.

She suddenly felt dizzy, and so when she came to a door that looked like it led to outside, she went out. She was in a courtyard, with one wall open to the world. But it was raining – it had been sunny when she last looked out the window, and that had only been a couple of minutes ago. And the storm didn't look brand new – the courtyard was covered in puddles and there was no hint of the individual raindrop shapes on the ground – the whole floor of the courtyard was covered in a fine layer of water.

This was all that Vikki could think of before the dizziness took hold and she collapsed in the middle of the courtyard.

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><p>Pain. Hurt. Gwen winced, and tried to hold back the tears as she woke up, facing yet another day. She breathed deeply, and tried to get a grip on the reality she was facing.<p>

It was a room in a tavern, small, not very special. She would have to leave soon; she had no more money to stay here. She had been travelling for…how long was it? She had now left the five kingdoms, and had sailed to a mystery place. The locals had told her to go and appeal to the queen – Nasuada. She would help her, they said. She had taken the country from the grips of a tyrant, with the help of Eragon Shadeslayer. And his dragon, Saphira. Dragon. That scared Gwen, a dragon and a dragon rider. She shuddered as she remembered when the dragon had escaped from Camelot, and Arthur had almost been killed.

Arthur. She quickly tried to focus her thoughts on something else, determined not to think of Arthur, what could have been, what never will be. Before he mind betrayed her, she started to face the issue at hand – she needed to get to see this queen. She knew that she had considerably less than a day's walk ahead of her, as she was in the outskirts of the city – Urû'baen. She could get to the Queen, and she'd ask her for help.

That was how Gwen had to take life now – one step at a time.

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><p>It seemed odd, but there was a way to tell if someone had touched an egg. It was a spell that most people who could use magic knew – but it required the caster to understand how this would show if the person had touched an egg or not. Otherwise, the person casting the spell would just expend a large amount of energy doing nothing. But Mera understood it well, so she could tell that the strange girl in the courtyard had never touched an egg before.<p>

The courtyard was dark because of the rain, and Mera couldn't see her clearly. "Naina hvitr un böllr" she said, and the courtyard was filled with the light she created. This, it seemed, as enough to wake the girl. The girl saw the light that Mera was creating, and screamed.

"Eka ai fricai un Shur'tugal."

"What?" asked the girl, now recovered from the shock of the light.

The girl spoke in the language of humans, which did not surprise the girl. Very few humans knew the language of the elves – in fact, so few knew it that the official language of the riders was the human language, even though only one rider – Eragon – spoke it as his mother tongue. But what surprised Mera was the fact that the girl didn't respond at all when she had told her that she was a friend. This was the language of everything – surly, even if she didn't speak it, she would understand that she had told her she was a friend.

But the girl, if anything, looked even more afraid than before to be spoken to in a strange, alien tongue. Mera quickly started speaking the human language.

"Don't be afraid. It's okay, everything's fine. You need to go and see Eragon-elda and touch the eggs."

This seemed to calm the girl down. She started taking in deep breaths.

"I'm Mera. What's your name?" Mera said in a tone she hoped was gentle – you could never tell in human-speak, it was so constricting.

"Vikki. I'm Vikki."

Myra reached out into Vikki's mind, and found nothing that she could understand. But still, possessed with the talent of elves, she reached a little deeper and managed to sense the girl's truthfulness.

"We need to go and see Eragon-elda. He'll help you."

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><p>"Oh…okay." Mera led the girl into the main rooms of the castle, hoping that Eragon would be able to sort this out.<p>

"Just touch it. I'll explain later." said Eragon for the nth time in what felt like an hour, but was most probably more like a couple of minutes.

"But why?" asked Vikki. She had been taken to meet Eragon and he, in his impatience, had tried to make her touch the egg before he explained what was happening. Big mistake. She was stubborn, but so was he. Now he had decided he wanted her to touch the egg, he would make her touch the egg. It was just one of those things.

"Fine! I'll touch your damn egg," said Vikki. "But don't blame me when nothing happens."

She stomped up to it in a huff, and the room collectively held its breath. Everyone knew what was going on – she was like the last hope for the human riders. That, or the next generation. But somehow this girl had an air of mystery about her, and so people thought that she had a good chance.

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><p><em>Another one! These two-legs just don't give up, do they? She didn't want to be forced to choose one of the two legs as her rider – it was a big decision, and...Ooh!<em>

_This two-legs was interesting. She didn't know what was happening; she didn't want the egg to hatch. She had a good heart and a pure soul, and she had the same feisty spirit_

_as the dragon. The dragon thought for a minute, then decided. This two-legs...Wait! Where's she gone? Must hatch now!_

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><p>Vikki stomped away from the egg. "See!" she almost yelled. "Nothing happened! Now will you please tell me where the hell I…"<p>

She was cut off by the sound of egg-shell cracking.

"The egg!" yelled Eragon. "It's hatching!"

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><p>A.N. – So, the way that chapters are going to work is that I'm going to name them after a song. It'll be the one that inspired this chapter, or that I listened to while I wrote this song.<p>

This chapter's song is "Almost Lover", by A Fine Frenzy. The song mainly inspired the Merlin bits of the chapter, but it gave me the tone for the first bit with Vikki as well.

Please review and tell me what you think!


	2. Chapter 2  Bring It All Back

Chapter Two – Bring It All Back

Disclaimer: I don't own the Inheritance Cycle, or Merlin. They belong to their respective owners.

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><p>Nasuada looked Gwen up and down. She said she was a serving girl – she was looking for work. Nasuada could use a serving girl, but for this girl, she had other plans.<p>

First, she would need to find out why she had been banished from her country – one of the five kingdoms – , and possibly get her to have a mind-check – You could never tell when a supporter of Galbatorix would pop up and ruin things.

Then she would send her to touch an egg. They had received news of dwarf riders, urgal riders, and elf riders, but no human riders. Frankly, it was an embarrassment, if nothing else.

Then, if that didn't work, she would get her to be a serving girl for the riders. Nasuada was worried about them – they didn't have any servants. She knew that the riders would treat her well, and she knew that Gwen would look after the riders – she seemed like a good girl with a kind heart.

"If you don't mind me asking," Nasuada said in a tone that implied she really should get an answer, "Why were you banished from you home country?"

"Oh, well…" said Gwen, embarrassment apparent. "It's rather a personal matter. I fell in love with the king, and we got engaged, but then I ended up kissing someone else. It was silly and stupid and I'll never forgive myself, but it happened and I ended up being banished. And I came here."

Nasuada looked at Gwen. It was obvious that this story caused her pain to retell it – her shoulders were shaking and she looked on the verge of tears. But there was something about her, when she talked about the man she was in love with, at the beginning of the story, that lit her up. It was obvious that she was still deeply in love with him – in fact, Nasuada began to think that she had been enchanted. She'd ask Eragon to look into it, once she was with the riders.

"Right, Gwen, I have made my decision. I am not in need of a ladies maid, but I know a group of people who could use someone like you. They are the dragon riders. Now, I know that in the five kingdoms magic is banished, and that you may be hesitant to work for them, but I can say that magic is different in Aglaesia. It is channelled though nature, and you cannot lie in the language used for it. Although it can be used for great evil, the dragon riders use it only for good. Remember, it is never magic that is evil, it is it's users.

"They are in need of human riders. Are you familiar with how riders are chosen?"

"No, your majesty."

"They are chosen by the dragon, through the egg. So I want you to try this test. Many have failed, and I don't doubt that you may well not become a rider. But they also need a servant, and I think you fit the job well. Do you agree?"  
>"Yes, your majesty."<p>

"Good. A rider will stop here tomorrow, to give us a report on what is happening. For now on, I want you to stay in my palace, be my guest. Then, once the rider has given me the news, I want you to go to the riders with him. Is this acceptable?"

"Yes, your majesty."

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><p>Bahtzof had been the first Urgal rider. He was proud of this feat, as it brought him much honour and awarded him a high place in society. Because of this, he understood it was not necessary to attack anyone, which was why he had been chosen to be the report rider. It was a temporary position, but Bahtzof was proud of it, and his race honoured him all the more for it.<p>

He landed in the dragon landing bit of the castle grounds, and then let his dragon, Eridor, go off to hunt. He then went straight to the council rooms.

There he found Nasuada conversing with a girl.

"Ah, Bahtzof," said Nasuada. "This is Gwen. She's going to be a serving girl to the riders, and so I'm sending her back with you. Any news, or just the usual?"

"Queen Nasuada, I bring great news. One of the dragon eggs has hatched to a human."

Nasuada looked like all her Christmases had come at once. She smiled, a huge Cheshire cat grin, and then said "Oh, that's wonderful news. Who to?"

"A girl who appeared on our doorstep yesterday. Her name, as I understand it, is," here he paused, trying to prounounce the name "Vikki."

"Vikki?" asked Nasuada – she had never heard of the name before.

"Yes, Vikki. She wears strange clothes and doesn't know about magic. The dragons scare her – she thinks they don't exist. But Eragon-elda says that" again Bahtzof paused, but this time trying to remember something "'Once she gets used to it she will be a fine rider, and she is fine with her own dragon, so it is not much of a problem.'"

"Well, this is wonderful. Tell her that she has my deepest thanks, and that I would like to meet her one day, when she can get here. Now, is there anything else?"  
>"Nothing apart from usual, Your majesty."<p>

"Very well, take Gwen and go back. Oh, and Gwen?"

"Yes your majesty?" answered Gwen, pleased to have something to say instead of just standing and listening to their conversation.

"Make sure you touch an egg – just to make sure."

"I will, your majesty."

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><p>Gwen went with Bahtzof to the Dragon Riders hearquarters on his dragon, Eridor. The journey had taken about a week and a half, and had been mostly pleasant. Bahtzof had turned out to be reasonably good company, once you grew used to his horns. Now she was at the hall of the Dragon Riders, and was getting more and more nervous as she went to meet their leader – "Eragon-elda."<p>

Eragon-elda turned out to look much younger than she had thought – he looked younger than she did. His dragon, Saphira sat by him. Even after her week and a half riding on Eridor, she was still nervous around dragons. She walked into the centre of the great hall, and waited for Eragon-elda to say something.

When he did, it was not to Gwen, but to Bahtzof. "Who is this?" he asked, with mild curiosity in his voice.

"This is Gwen, sir. She is from the five kingdoms, but has been banished from her country. She is a serving girl – her majesty sent her here to help us, but asks that she touches an egg first."

"Ah, very well." said Eragon-elda. "Gwen, was it?"

"Yes, sir." said Gwen in a mousy voice that reflected how she felt.

"Please, call me Eragon. Only riders call me sir, or Eragon-elda." A light snort came from the dragon, and Eragon said "And this is Saphira."

"It's an honour to meet you both."

"And you", came the vocal response from Eragon. Then Gwen felt a tendril of thought enter her brain, and heard a melodious voice say _it's an honour for me as well._ This scared Gwen, and it was a moment before she realised it was coming from the dragon, Saphira.

"So, if you don't mind, will you come with me to touch the egg?"

"Of course."  
>Eragon set off, and Gwen followed him. The sound of flapping wings informed Gwen that Saphira was coming as well.<p>

The room that held the eggs was long and narrow. The eggs sat on pedestals, and Eragon motioned for her to go and touch the eggs.

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><p><em>It's another two legs! YAY! Two legs are fun. I wonder what this two legs is like.<em>

_Oh, she's sad. That's sad. She's unhappy._

_But she's quite nice. She's better than all the other two legs. I like this one. Should I hatch? It might cheer her up!_

_Oh, she's in love. That's why she's sad._

_She's from across the seas! Maybe when she goes back, I can go with her! YAY!_

_This sounds exiting. I think I'll hatch. Oh, she's sitting down. What a shame. Maybe I'll open my mind a bit wider…oh! It's another dragon!_

"_Are you hatching, little one?"  
>Yes! But ask her why she is so sad, please.<em>

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><p>Eragon was expecting big things from this girl – after all, she had been sent by Nasuada. So when Saphira he heard Saphira confirming it, he wasn't supprised.<p>

_Ask her why she is so sad_, said Saphira, so he did.

"Oh, you can tell? I was banished from my home. It was because I was going to marry the king, but I was caught with another man. The ironic thing is that I really loved the king, I really did. I just want to get back, but that'll never happen."  
>"I can check to see if it was a love spell, if you want." asked Eragon, who felt sympathetic to her plight. He whispered the words from the ancient language under his breath, and smiled at the result.<p>

"No thanks. I think it was just a moment of…"

"A love spell? It was, I just checked. Oh, and by the way, that egg's going to hatch for you. It wanted to know why you were so sad."

Gwen swayed, then dropped to the floor.

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><p>The dragon had been sleeping for the most part of the week that Vikki had spent with the riders. It was now wandering around her room, and looking with curiosity around it.<p>

It wandered over to Vikki, and she held her breath as it started to climb onto her. She tentatively, tenderly, reached out a hand to touch it. It nuzzled against her, and she felt something in her hand. It was spreading, and she felt ice. The feeling was flowing through her body, and she was unable to do anything but lay there. She tried to scream, but nothing came out.

It was what felt like a lifetime before she regained consciousness – i.e. the ability to feel anything more than pain. When she had, she looked at her hand to find, in the centre of her palm – where she had touched the dragon – there was a shining mark blossoming. She heard footsteps, and then looked around her.

Eragon-elda was standing in the doorway, looking relieved. "I thought she might not be able to do that."

There was this feeling of openness in Vikki's head. It was scary, and the feelings that spread through her head were, despite the huge proportions of the extra space, simple. It was curious, and somewhat apologetic. Suddenly, Vikki felt like she should apologise for things.

"I'm sorry." she said to Eragon-elda, even though she was almost certain that she didn't need to apologise for anything.

"Don't worry. That's the dragon trying to apologise to you." he said.

"For what?" she asked, panicked about how the dragon suddenly had access to her head – that it was _talking_ to her.

"I don't know." he said in a tone that made clear he thought that was obvious. "Why don't you ask her?"

She first tried to ask _what are you sorry for?_, but it had no effect on the dragon. She gradually realised that it didn't understand what he was saying. So she tried a different tactic – she tried sending questioning feelings down the connection.

At once, the dragon seemed to understand. It sent her an image of when it hatched, but from it's perspective – she felt the panic that the dragon had felt when she took her hand away. and an overwhelming desire to…_hatch. _She sent a feeling of _it's okay_ness down the line, and felt the dragon promptly forget about it's guilt. It instead sent hunger down the lines – and Vikki understood. It hadn't eaten since…well, ever. It needed to be fed.

"Don't worry, the food is coming." said Eragon, pre-emptively realising that the dragon would be hungry. "You need to give her a name." he said. And then I have some jobs for you. But first I want to tell you that, although the dorm will be yours, you now have to share a common room."

"With who?"

"A girl called Gwen. She's from one of the five kingdoms. Are you?"

"No. I'm from London. In England."

"How did you get here?"

"I don't know. I just walked out of a door and into the courtyard. But yesterday I went back to look, and the door wasn't there. I felt really sick, and light headed, and when I got here I fainted." Vikki felt the dragon probe her mind, trying to listen to the conversation. It was so…curious. She couldn't help but try to explain to the dragon everything that was happening. The dragon, it seemed, understood her distress and started to try and help. While it's suggestions were each more ludicrous than the rest, they cheered her up and made her think of all the bad things that she was leaving behind – she could stay here and nobody would miss her.

Eragon was watching her, but he could tell that she was talking to the dragon that was now sitting on her lap. It was eating some meat that had been brought up, and looking content. Vikki often laughed, and started to absent-mindedly stroke the dragon behind the ears – they looked like they belonged. They were a well matched pair, he thought. It was a good thing that she had come.

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><p>Gwen knew that she had to wait a couple of weeks for her dragon to hatch, but then…she would be a rider. There were stories of riders in Camelot, that they had magic and used it to keep the peace. She thought about Arthur, and what he would think about her being a rider. Then she thought about how his opinion didn't matter anymore.<p>

She slowly realised that this was the first time since she had came to this land that she had become hopeful. She looked at the egg and realised why this was – she had hope.

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><p>6 Months Later, The Council of Camelot<p>

Arthur looked around the table. All the council members were there, and they were all trying to decide upon what to do about an upstart, rebellious – but none the less very powerful – kingdom that had just been created overseas. They were at a loss, because this kingdom didn't condone magic, but used it to rule.

Arthur stood up. "I can see only one option. We are in danger from this kingdom – so we must make it our friends. We can agree to disagree on the subject of magic, for the good of the kingdom."

The rest of the council meeting was spent deciding how to do just that – they settled on sending for an envoy.

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><p>Nasuada was in <em>her<em> council when the messenger came. He announced himself to be from "The Kingdom of Camelot", and proceded to ask for an envoy to form a connection between the two kingdoms. The message also included a short note that magic was banned in the kingdom, but as envoys they would be governed by the rules of their own people, so not to worry.

Nasuada wanted to send them an envoy, but she also wanted to send a message. She wanted to make sure that they knew that this wasn't just an upstart kingdom, but an important one.

In the courtyard, she saw Bahtzof climbing off his dragon.

_Perfect._

* * *

><p>"An envoy?" asked Eragon – he was annoyed that he had to. The riders weren't part of the kingdom, and shouldn't be used as Envoys. However, he thought that it was about time that Vikki had a job – she was getting restless. Sighing, he sent for Vikki to come down and talk to him.<p>

He just hoped that he was doing the right thing in sending her away so soon. She had received very little training, but her magic was strange. The laws of the ancient language didn't apply to her – she had very quickly become fluent, but could easily lie in the language, and wasn't able to use it for magic. However, she was able to say things in the human tongue and produce magic that was very hard to fight, and it seemed that she required very little training in magic.

With this in mind, he had just given her free reign. And she did everything that she would.

She learnt to swordfight, and was now, although not a master, able to hold her own in a fight against one. She read to her dragon, endless works of fiction and non-fiction. She took endless flights, she talked to her dragon as often as possible.

In short, she was very, very bored. And this was the perfect job for her.

However, Eragon did write a note to the king of Camelot, about Gwen. He said that she was a citizen of one of the five kingdoms (Gwen had not stated which yet), but she had been banished because of a love spell and was it possible for him to find out who she was in love with and explain everything to him? He also wrote a short note on the dragon riders, and how Vikki was unusual, and also how Gwen was doing – in case he managed to track down her mystery man.

There. Two problems solved in one quick fix.

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><p>A.N.: Sorry this has taken so long. It went brilliantly, but then I got a new laptop and spent three months trying to re-piece it before finding it on my last laptop. The date for the next update is very uncertain, unfortunately, as I'm in the middle of some hideous exams. But hopefully I'll get some writing done.<p>

Reviews make me happy, which makes me want to write, which makes me update faster.

The song for this chapter is complicated. It's "Bring It All Back", by S-Club 7. This may seem weird, but it's mostly referring to the healing process that happens to Gwen and Vikki in this chapter. Sorry there has been so little Camelot, but the next chapter will be Camelot-centric to compensate.


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